Research is a process. It is a continuum of stages that together make up a research plan. Below is a tentative sketch of what we think are the seven important steps of a research plan. For each of these stages we featured a short collection of web tools to help you carry it out. We have also created a poster capturing the steps and tools we covered here. You can download, share and use the poster the way you want as long as you use it for educational purposes.
The first stage you embark on after you have decided on your research topic and defined your research question is to start collecting data (e.g journal articles, blog posts, books, documents, PDFs…etc) related to your topic. This process involves searching, curating and organizing your materials. Here are some tools to help you do that:
1- Search for data
2- Curate your data
3- Save and organize your data
4- Review your reading materials
After you have collected the data related to your topic, the reading marathon starts. Here are some good tools to help you with your reading:
5-Synthesize and take notes
After you have familiarized yourself with the reading materials under hand (first reading), you will start taking notes and senthesizing your information. Here are some tools for this purpose:
6- Write-up
These are some excellent word editors you may want to use to prepare the write-up or report of your findings:
In the editing and proofreading process and before you share your report, you will have to pay close attention to your bibliography and check your references and citations. These are some tools to help you better manage your bibliography:
2- Curate your data
3- Save and organize your data
4- Review your reading materials
After you have collected the data related to your topic, the reading marathon starts. Here are some good tools to help you with your reading:
5-Synthesize and take notes
After you have familiarized yourself with the reading materials under hand (first reading), you will start taking notes and senthesizing your information. Here are some tools for this purpose:
6- Write-up
These are some excellent word editors you may want to use to prepare the write-up or report of your findings:
- Scrivener
- Pages
- Microsoft Word
- Google Docs
In the editing and proofreading process and before you share your report, you will have to pay close attention to your bibliography and check your references and citations. These are some tools to help you better manage your bibliography:
